Southwest Airlines has agreed to buy AirTran in a $1.42 billion deal that will combine two of the nation's biggest discount carriers.
The two airlines primarily overlap in the Baltimore and Orlando markets. Passengers traveling to and from those cities could face higher ticket prices because less competition traditionally means higher airfares.
The acquisition moves Southwest into 37 new cities. The largest of those is Atlanta, where Delta Air Lines is based. Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International airport is the nation's busiest, and a primary hub for business travelers, a group that Southwest has increasingly been targeting because they tend to pay higher fares.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100927/...rtran_buyout_5